February 20

February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 314 days remaining, 315 in leap years.

Events

• 1472 – Orkney and Shetland are annexed to the crown of Scotland.
• 1547 – Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
• 1724 – The premiere of Giulio Cesare, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, takes place in London.
• 1725 – The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony.
• 1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.
• 1809 – A decision by the United States Supreme Court states that the power of the federal government is greater than any individual state.
• 1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean patriot and leader of rebellion against Napoleon's forces, was executed.
• 1835 – Concepción, Chile is destroyed by an earthquake
• 1864 – Battle of Olustee
• 1872 – In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.
• 1873 – The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco, California.
• 1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
• 1913 – King O'Malley drove in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.
• 1921 – The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse film, starring Rudolph Valentino, premieres.
• 1931 – California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
• 1942 – Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.
• 1943 – American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
• 1943 – Paricutín volcano begins to form in Paricutín, México.
• 1944 – World War II: "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on Nazi aircraft manufacturing centers.
• 1944 – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
• 1952 – Emmett L. Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
• 1952 – The film The African Queen opens at Capitol Theatre in New York City.
• 1959 – The Avro Arrow programme to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada was cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
• 1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn orbits the earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes, becoming the first American to orbit the earth.
• 1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
• 1974 – Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick claimed he began experiencing intense gnostic visions on this date.
• 1976 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.
• 1987 – Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, in the USA, a bomb explodes in a computer store.
• 1992 – Ross Perot announced his intention to run in the 1992 U.S. presidential election on CNN's Larry King Live.
• 2001 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 15 years.
• 2002 – In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.
• 2003 – In Rhode Island, in the USA, The Station nightclub fire kills about 100 and injures over 200.
• 2005 – Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.
• 2005 – Jeff Gordon wins his third Daytona 500.

Births

• 1745 – Henry James Pye, English poet (d. 1813)
• 1751 – Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (d. 1826)
• 1757 – John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, philanthropist and patron of the arts and sciences (d. 1834)
• 1839 – Revd Benjamin Waugh, founder of the NSPCC (d. 1908)
• 1844 – Ludwig Boltzmann, physicist (d. 1906)
• 1844 – Joshua Slocum, seaman and adventurer (d. 1909)
• 1848 – Edward Henry Harriman, railroad executive (d. 1909)
• 1887 – Carl Ebert, opera manager and director (d. 1980)
• 1887 – Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada (d. 1967)
• 1888 – Georges Bernanos, French writer (d. 1948)
• 1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer (d. 1984)
• 1904 – Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)
• 1909 – Heinz Erhardt, German comedian (d. 1979)
• 1912 – Pierre Boulle, author (d. 1994)
• 1914 – John Daly, South African-American broadcaster (d. 2001)
• 1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, clothing designer and entrepreneur
• 1925 – Robert Altman, film director
• 1925 – Whitney Blake, American actress (d. 2002)
• 1925 – Heinz Kluncker, labor union leader
• 1926 – Richard Matheson, author
• 1926 – Rob Richards, track and field athlete
• 1927 – Sidney Poitier, actor
• 1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer, and anti-Communist (d. 1986)
• 1931 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)
• 1934 – Bobby Unser, American automobile racer
• 1936 – Larry Hovis, American actor (d. 2003)
• 1937 – Roger Penske, automobile racer
• 1937 – Nancy Wilson, singer
• 1938 – Richard Beymer, American actor
• 1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, American singer
• 1942 – Phil Esposito, hockey player
• 1943 – Mike Leigh, director
• 1945 – Brion James, American actor (d. 1999)
• 1946 – Brenda Blethyn, actress
• 1946 – Jerome Geils, musician (J. Geils Band)
• 1946 – Sandy Duncan, American singer and actress
• 1947 – Peter Osgood, English footballer
• 1947 – Peter Strauss, actor
• 1948 – Jennifer O'Neill, actress
• 1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech skier, fashion model, and socialite
• 1951 – Gordon Brown, British politician
• 1951 – Randy California, guitarist
• 1954 – Anthony Stewart Head, actor
• 1954 – Patty Hearst, socialite
• 1955 – Kelsey Grammer, actor
• 1959 – Scott Brayton, auto racer (d. 1996)
• 1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player
• 1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model
• 1967 – Kurt Cobain, American musician (d. 1994)
• 1971 – Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer
• 1975 – Brian Littrell, musician (Backstreet Boys)
• 1977 – Stephon Marbury, basketball player
• 1980 – Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player
• 1985 – Yulia, musician (t.A.T.u.)

Deaths

• 702 – Chan Bahlum II, king of the Maya state of Palenque (b. 635)
• 1171 – Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)
• 1194 – Tancred, King of Sicily
• 1258 – Al-Musta'sim, last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad
• 1408 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland (b. 1342)
• 1431 – Pope Martin V
• 1513 – King Christian II of Denmark (b. 1455)
• 1579 – Nicholas Bacon, English politician (b. 1509)
• 1626 – John Dowland, English composer and lutenist (b. 1563)
• 1773 – King Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy (b. 1701)
• 1790 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)
• 1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean national hero, is executed by the French at Mantova
• 1871 – Paul Kane, painter (b. 1810)
• 1893 – P.G.T. Beauregard, Confederate general (b. 1818)
• 1895 – Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist writer (b. ca. 1818)
• 1920 – Robert Peary, explorer (b. 1856)
• 1961 – Percy Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882)
• 1966 – Chester Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
• 1968 – Anthony Asquith, director, writer (b. 1902)
• 1969 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
• 1970 – Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist (b. 1885)
• 1972 – Walter Winchell, journalist, (b. 1897)
• 1975 – Robert Strauss, American politician, diplomat
• 1980 – J.B. Rhine, parapsychologist and ESP researcher (b. 1895).
• 1983 – Ray Vitte, American actor
• 1985 – Clarence Nash, Disney voice actor (b. 1904)
• 1992 – Dick York, actor (b. 1928)
• 1992 – Roberto D'Aubuisson, Salvadoran politician
• 1993 – Ferrucio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer
• 1996 – Toru Takemitsu, Japanese composer (b. 1930)
• 1996 – Solomon Asch, psychologist (b. 1907)
• 1999 – Sarah Kane, playwright (b. 1971)
• 1999 – Gene Siskel, film critic (b. 1946)
• 2000 – Anatoly Sobchak, Russian politician
• 2001 – Rosemary DeCamp, American actress
• 2003 – Maurice Blanchot, author (b. 1907)
• 2003 – Orville Freeman, American politician (b. 1918)
• 2003 – Willi Hoss, politician
• 2003 – Harry Jacunski, NFL player
• 2003 – Ty Longley, guitarist for the heavy-metal band Great White
• 2003 – Ulrich Roski, singer and cabaret artist
• 2005 – Sandra Dee, American actress(b. 1944)
• 2005 – Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author. (b. 1937)
• 2005 – John Raitt, actor (b. 1917)

Holidays and observances

External links

• BBC: On This Day

February 19 – February 21 – January 20 – March 20 — listing of all days